GBG – Giving back in a virtual world

People sit at the heart of our philosophy at GBG, and that includes our team members across the world, their families, and wider communities. This year we have continued to champion our outreach work and charity fundraising as vital components of our employee engagement, but restrictions in travel and in-person contact have encouraged us to be far more creative!

Each year our 1,000+ global team members vote on what ‘umbrella charitable cause’ we should support as a business, and once chosen they select the local charity they wish to support in each of the 16 countries we operate in. In previous years our people have chosen to support charities related to mental health, homelessness and child outreach causes. Over the years, our teams have contributed thousands of hours, raised substantial funds and a lot of exposure to charities and foundations around the world. Our team members have been able to make lasting memories by coming together and taking part in challenging group activities.

Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to so far this year:  

APAC (Asia Pacific)

Our APAC team, based across Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and China, banded together to raise funds for a range of COVID-19 relief charities, supporting everything from the supply of PPE to educational resources to the prevention of domestic abuse. They hosted the brilliant ‘APAC’s Got Talent’ online event – which featured team members across the region showcasing some amazing talents. We saw singing, dancing, music, cooking, and the event was live streamed for the entire business to see and vote on their favourite. I was so impressed at the wealth of talent, and the final winners were our technology team in Canberra, who played a cover of AC/DC’s TNT, changing the title to GBG and adapting the lyrics accordingly! The team raised a fantastic total of $16,668 AUD.

UK

In the UK, our teams based in Chester, London, Nottingham, Worcester, Liverpool and homeworkers usually gather for an outdoor hiking/cycling challenge. So given we are all working from home this year, the UK team attempted to individually cover as many miles as possible in a 12-hour period, with a target of reaching a combined 880 miles (the total distance between our UK offices). With the option of walking, running, cycling or swimming, the team smashed their target and clocked an impressive 2,843 miles, raising over £9,000 for the various charities.

USA

Our US team, based in Atlanta, Redwood City and New York, also chose to do the ‘miles’ challenge. Together they were able to cover a further 6,009 miles across the month of October and raised $11,435 for their chosen charities.

I’m immensely proud of our teams for continuing fundraising efforts and finding creative ways to approach this even as the pandemic continues. The efforts made and money raised testify to the ingenuity of GBG’s people, as well as our global desire to keep giving back, especially during such uncertain, difficult times.